World Of Tourism

Clocks go back in Spain tonight to winter time-keeping, from CET+1 (RST+1) to CET (RST) so everyone will, as the popular theory has it, get an extra hour in bed. The change is uniform throughout the EU, so the same change will be occurring in the UK tonight as well.Next year the clocks go forward again on the night of Saturday 26/Sunday 27 March 2011.You can get more information here for the UK (

During tonight clocks will go forward by one hour throughout the EU and we shall all 'lose' one hour of sleep.In the UK this will mean a shift from GMT [Greenwich Mean Time] to GMT+1, otherwise known as BST [British Summer Time].In Spain, where I am now and for the next few months, clocks are already on GMT+1, otherwise known as RST [Romance Standard Time] or CET [Central European Time] and will

The long winter in the Highlands of Scotland may not be quite over yet, but for me it will be so on Thursday, when I start the journey south to my home in Spain for a few months. The first part of the trip will take me beyond the 'snow fields' of the Grampians (with a bit of luck) and on down to the southern Lake District, where I will be spending a night on my way to Portsmouth to catch the

For the first time in 300 years a senior Spanish official has made an official visit to the British colony of Gibraltar. According to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish claim of sovereignty over the Rock is "permanent and irrevocable", but nevertheless accepted that in the 21st century the difference of viewpoint about the status of Gibraltar was better considered

Following on from its first-ever annual loss announced just a few days ago, Ryanair appears to be embarking on a round of precipitate route-cancellations.So far I'm aware of a route cut involving Inverness Airport (INV) and East Midlands airport (EMA), coupled with the cancellation of the service from Durham Tees valley airport (MME) to Dublin aiprort (DUB). Both routes will cease to operate

Discrimination, it's everywhere. It could be about the colour of your skin, your gender, the country you come from, even your hair colour can be discriminated against. Where do we draw the line? When do the jokes stop being funny? A Spanish electrician, residing in the UK, has drawn the line and in a big way. Juan Ignacio worked at London Bridge Hospital for almost two years and was constantly mocked and ridiculed.

He was constantly compared to Basil from the 1970's hit comedy Fawlty Towers which starred John Cleese. Senior staff at London Bridge Hospital mimicked his accent and mocked him with the famous quote from the show: "He's from Barcelona".Mr Ignacio had claimed his alleged tormentors had branded Spain "a Third World country" and asked if his people had electricity.He also said he was subjected to regular homophobic abuse even though he is not gay.

He was seeking almost £30,000 for alleged racial discrimination, harassment and constructive dismissal in an employment tribunal case against hospital owners HCA International and two bosses – hospital estates manager Chris Sweeney and chief engineer Richard Metcalfe. his claim was of course settled out of court and he was given an undisclosed settlement.

I say, good for you Mr. Ignacio, no one has to put up with that sort of office environment, it's appalling that professionals that work in a hospital could behave in such a vile way. Apparently a polish handyman was as ridiculed as Mr. Igancio by the very same people in almost the very same way. I see a horrible pattern here......

There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun and it's important that we can all laugh at ourselves once in a while but I hope these "senior" staff members are punished for this unacceptable behaviour. We deal with enough discrimination in the world and now we have to deal with it in hospitals too? A place of care and healing? No thank you, here's a little joke from the Apprentice for the bullies, "YOU'RE FIRED!".

Reports in the weekend papers predict that tourism is suffering in Spain because of the fall of the pound against the euro. The recession seems to be taking on a snowball effect in the UK and its expected to negatively impact British tourism by 25%.

Spain expects to see a half a million tourists less this year in the Costa Blanca area alone. Numbers like that have devastating effects of small tourists towns that rely mostly on a regular influx of tourists.

The exchange rate may vary but one constant remains...people still want to go on holiday. The recession has directed a number of prospective holiday makers to seek out cheaper alternatives and tailor make their holidays to perfectly suit their needs, minus the excess costs.

Hotels are hopeful, airlines are dropping their fares to remain competitive but...competition is tight. Tourism Radio focuses on giving self drive tourists the freedom to travel the way they want to and still experience the country as if their was a local sitting in the car with them telling them about the area they're in and about the landmarks and highlights as their car approaches them. It seems to be the most viable option seeing as though the drive from Britain to Spain is easy and accessible.

One thing is certain...the recession will bring about change. Changes in the way people travel, what destinations are deemed popular and what experiences tourists can now afford. The good news is that with Tourism Radio, a change is still as good as a holiday.

Slovakia will become the 16th of the current 27 members of the European Union to adopt the Euro as its currency on 1 January 2009. The fixed conversion rate between the Euro (EUR) and the existing Slovak national currency (SKK) is €1 = 30.1260 SKK.The 15 EU countries currently using the Euro as their currency are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,

.. back to Spain. I travel tomorrow and hope to reach my house late tomorrow night/early Thursday morning. I'll be back in Nairn at the end of September.There is so much turmoil going on in the world economy and the British Labour Party (this is just the latest body-blow amongst many to hit PM Gordon Brown) at present that one hardly knows where to begin; I have therefore taken the easy option of

This time next week I shall just be about an hour and a half away from my departure for Spain (I wrote about my detailed itinerary for this trip a few weeks ago here). Most of my pre-departure preparations are made, but a task I will do today (or just possibly tomorrow) is to do a dummy-run of packing up the car. One of the rooms in my apartment has all of the suitcases and bags laid out in it,

At the end of this month I shall be departing Nairn (a little town on the Moray coast of Scotland, just east of Inverness) and beginning my journey to Mazarron, where I hope to arrive about 126 hours later. First will be a three or so hour drive down to Rosyth, the ferry-port on the Fife shore just north of Edinburgh, where I will board the Superfast ferry for Zeebrugge. With luck, assuming we